TV Ratings: ‘Sunday Night Football’ Ends Season at 4-Year High
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Plenty of questions have been raised over the stability of NFL TV ratings across the last few years, but this season, the league has been a mainstay among falling live event ratings in other departments, with “Sunday Night Football” closing the 2019-2020 season at a four-year viewership high.
The final “SNF” between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 29 was watched by 23.3 million viewers, taking the average total viewership per “SNF” game to 20.5 million. That number is up 5% on last season (which averaged 19.6 million) and 12% on 2017 broadcasts (which averaged 18.4 million). Only the 2015 season averaged a larger total viewership across the 14 seasons that “Sunday Night Football” has aired on NBC.
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Last night’s game, which saw the team from California emerge victorious 26-21 in a crucial win, was the most watched “Sunday Night Football” ever between two West Coast teams, per NBC.
“Sunday Night Football” is on pace to be the most viewed program on broadcast television for the ninth consecutive year.
The show’s impressive performance will come as a welcome boost to the NFL, after an alarming 10% in total viewers across the board in 2017 was followed by a bounce back last year which saw NBC up 6%, ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” up 8%, and Fox and CBS’s Sunday afternoon games up 2%.
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